Everyone Has a Jenny

I got the chance to see Forrest Gump with my youngest son this weekend. It's such a solid movie, and there was lots to discuss with him, but what I found interesting were his views on Jenny. 

Are all sorts of meme's and discussion posts and controversies about Jenny and how badly she treats Forest. Personally, I think Jenny's story is there to help us appreciate Forest's journey. You have the ynig and yang, the good and the bad. The viewer gets to see how good parenting effects kids when they grow and how bad parenting affects people. You get to see good choices vs bad choices and how they effect people around you and others in the world. You get to see how tendencies to do good or bad stay with people throughout their lives. Without Jenny's miserable story, Forrest's story is less impactful.

But then there are people like my son who wonder why in the world Forrest puts up with it. Does Jenny treat Forrest atrociously? Yep. Charlie even asked "Why doesn't Forrest just leave her and stop having anything to do with her?"

I'm reminded of the post I wrote about standing people up (see here). Jenny is constantly standing Forrest up. She leaves him so often that if Forrest wasn't a little bit simple he might have not put up with it. Maybe it's Forrest's simpleness that makes Jenny who she is? If she couldn't get away with doing that to Forrest maybe she wouldn't' have done it. 

I think that many of us have "Jenny's" in our lives. They are people who use others, use us. There are people in our lives who are narcissist and only think about their own feelings, and never about how their actions are effecting and hurting those around them. Maybe they wall that part of their emotions out. Maybe they just don't think about it. Maybe they just don't care as much as we like to think they do.

There are Jenny's in my life, I know. They are a part of our lives and there's nothing we can do about it. Like Jenny and Forrest they come in and out as easy as the breeze and don't even think about the damage they leave behind by their actions. And when others see it, and even when you look at it yourself, you think to yourself, "Why do I let them do that?" and the answer is "Cause I love em."

I'm glad Charlie had that view of Jenny, it's simple and imminently wholesome and correct. Helps to get some 11 year old logic. 

Evershade, evershades, ever shade, ever shades, shades of Betsy